Gwilym Lee joins Midsomer Murders in brand new series for ITV

Gwilym Lee joins Midsomer Murders in brand new series for ITV

Gwilym Lee is the new face to join MIDSOMER MURDERS following the departure of Jason Hughes as DS Jones. Gwilym will play DS Charlie Nelson the new partner to DCI John Barnaby [Neil Dudgeon] helping to solve the many murders that crop up in the county of Midsomer.

The duo will start filming five new episodes for the sixteenth series of MIDSOMER MURDERS at the end of April for transmission on ITV later this year.

Gwilym said today: ‘I am delighted to be joining such a popular and long running series as Midsomer Murders. I have always watched it and can’t wait to start work on it now, as a regular character. It’s a bit of a dream come true and I am even looking forward to the various stunts that lie ahead of me - I know Barnaby doesn’t like jumping into freezing lakes!’.

Neil Dudgeon said: ‘We’ve met and got on really well and I really look forward to working with him this year. It will be good to bring a new character into the series – and keep Barnaby on his toes!’.

Jo Wright, Executive Producer said: ‘We looked long and hard for the right person and feel that Gwilym can bring so much to the new series of MIDSOMER MURDERS. I know he is a great choice, and he will work so well alongside Neil Dudgeon’.

Louise Sutton, Producer added: ‘He is a delight to be with, enthusiastic and will be a great addition to the series. It will show a totally new dynamic to the partnership with Barnaby which I am sure the viewers will enjoy.’

Gwilym’s TV credits include: Restless, Fresh Meat; The Hollow Crown, Land Girls, and his many theatre credits include The Promise, Othello, Hamlet, Oedipus and Richard III for the National, RSC, the Crucible and the Donmar, and King Lear on Broadway.

Notes: Total people to die in Midsomer before their time is 291. To date, there have been 268 murders; 12 accidental deaths and 11 suicides. A further 9 have died from natural causes. The most dangerous village with the highest death toll is Badger’s Drift.

Bizarre and gruesome murder implements since the series began include a cricket bat, electrocution by a faulty microphone, strangled with cord of a camera light meter, a French guillotine, stabbed through the ear with a hatpin, death by poisonous frog, tailor’s shears, a slide projector, a switchblade razor, a drinks cabinet, vintage claret, bottles of relish, the crank shaft of a vintage car, a tower of newspapers, a gargoyle thrown off a roof, a meteorite rock, crushed to death by a herd of dairy cattle, and finally shelves of Midsomer Blue cheese.

Previous partners have included Daniel Casey as Sergeant Troy and John Hopkins as DS Dan Scott. Jason Hughes as DS Jones decided after 7 years and filming over 50 episodes, it was time to leave.